Don't Wait To See A Doctor

Pain and minor injuries are a fact of life. They are so common that we usually don’t bother going to see a doctor about it when we feel capable of nursing ourselves. It’s a huge time saver for both
ourselves, and the doctors who have to see many more serious injuries and complaints throughout the day. However, despite our ability to nurse a bad migraine, or heal a few scrapes, there are a few
medical issues beyond our pay grade. These are the few times when you shouldn’t wait to see a doctor.

Image via Wikimedia

Falls

Tripping and hitting the ground might not seem like a big deal, especially if you manage to get back up, but it can be pretty serious depending on how badly the ground hit you. If you’re an older person and there’s no one around to help you after your fall, check out medicalert.systems for a way to contact an ambulance when you can’t get back up. Everyone should always do an assessment of their bodily injuries after they move themselves to a sitting or standing position. If your knees or elbows took most of the impact, and it’s accompanied by swelling, tenderness, and significant pain, you need to see a doctor immediately. It might be nothing, but it’s good to check for injured ligaments or broken bones.

Deep cuts

It’s amazing how easily people cut themselves; paper cuts, minor cooking accidents, and mysterious scrapes that you don’t remember acquiring make up the majority of the list. Fortunately, these are usually shallow and can either be ignored, or bandaged with a plaster. Deeper cuts, however, should not be nursed by your capable hands alone. Serious cuts and puncture wounds can cause severe bleeding and nerve damage; if the wound doesn’t stop bleeding after a few minutes then it should definitely be seen by a doctor. If you’re really not sure if you need to see a doctor, check out webmd.com to see if your injury is likely to need stitches. Most of the time, however, it should be pretty obvious.

Image via Pheee

Head injuries

Whether it’s from a fall or an unexpected hit, head injuries are not to be taken lightly. The most important thing to look out for is a concussion, because they can result in life-threatening bleeding and swelling. Some of the signs of a concussion are pretty obvious, but it never hurts to make sure. However, when someone experiences vomiting, severe or worsening headaches, seizures, convulsions, slurred speech, confusion, agitation, restlessness, trouble waking, numbness, weakness, or decreased coordination after a head injury, get them to an emergency room right away.

Back pain

More often than not, back pain is usually a symptom of stress, or of a desk job. But this doesn’t mean that you should be dismissive of back pain when it’s been going on for a while. Every so often, back pain is a warning sign of cancer, an autoimmune disease, or spinal cord damage, particularly in patients over 55.